A Snowy night in
by PixieXW
Summary: Charming and Emma treat pregnant Snow to an evening in. This is a snippet off of my story Forever Snowing, hope you enjoy it! Rated M mainly for security


It had been a long day, the class had been excited beyond belief with summer on its way. They couldn't help it really, they didn't properly understand how tired I was. Henry always seemed torn, he wanted to join in with his friends and play about but he had promised his grandfather to take care of me. Which he had done, he would often hand things out for me or help me carry things, offered to fill my water bottle for me. He was a good kid but I was happier to see him being less of a loner and having friends who were ageing along side him than having him spend all his time with me.  
Still after a day in the May heat wave and a repetitive order to be quiet I was looking forward to getting in the door, throwing off the painful shoes and throwing on one of my husband's shirts. Henry had been picked up by Emma at the normal time today rather than him waiting for me to get the class tidied up and so I expected they would already be home when I got there. The stairwell told a different story. It was silent, no laughter or clanging and thumping around. Nothing. Once I'd waddled to the top of the stairs, mentally cursing that there were far too many as usual, there still wasn't a single sound. It made me feel uneasy, the house was never so quiet. You could always hear something once you reached the top landing, it was a general rule with four people in such a small house. I slowly pushed the door open, holding my breath, expecting something bad.  
However that wasn't the case.  
The loft was empty except for one solitary figure standing over the stove stirring something with steam rising from the top. The figure was broad shouldered, short haired and still wearing his leather jacket. Charming was placing all his concentration on what he was doing and the pile of empty ceramic bowls beside him made it clear whatever he was doing needed that concentration. I gave the door a push so it closed with a bang and his head whipped round. When his eyes fell on me a smile grew across his face and he turned down his pots and pans before coming in only a few strides over to me. He reached for my bag and then slid my summer canvas coat off my shoulders, hooking both on a peg by the door. His hand gently cupped my face and he bowed his head to kiss me quickly.  
"I've run a bath for you," he began, smiling like the cat that got the cream, "it's just us tonight," I have him a questioning look, realising this all looked too planned.  
He looked away from me, smiling. He knew I was on to him.  
"Emma and I were talking a few days ago, she mentioned how tired you looked and that you could use a break. I hinted that we hadn't had much alone time recently and she offered to take Henry out tonight, let me spoil you both." His hand reached down to touch the side of my belly as he said those words. I felt our son twist to press against his father's hand and Charming grinned, giving a small pat.  
"Come on, bath's waiting," he smiled taking and squeezing my hand as he led me in the direction of the bathroom.  
He'd filled the tub full, transformed the surface with an abundance of bubbles and even checked the temperature to make sure the water wouldn't harm the baby. I was surprised to see he didn't leave me, instead turning his attention to the buttons on my blouse, he appeared intent on undressing me too. Once he slid my blouse from my shoulders he went to the support band under my bump and tugged it down, opening my jeans to expose the full curve of my stomach to him. My charming husband dropped to his knees and pressed his lips hard against my belly, kissing all the way up the linea nigra and then all the way down. Small throaty sounds escaping him when his mouth dropped lower and lower. Then he continued to slip my jeans down my legs, letting them bunch around my ankles and leaning my weight against him to help me step out.  
Standing back up his hand ran through my hair and he pulled me in for another gentle kiss. He helped me into the bath so I wouldn't slip and then disappeared again.  
The water was perfect, maybe having a thermometer was the right way to do it. The bubbles crunched up around my ears as I slid further into the water, smiling at the fact my bump stuck out from the surface like a little island. Baths in this world were definitely an ingenious invention, they were enjoyable nothing like the baths I'd had during my time in the forest where I was always scared a strange man would be looking. Living like that had made me grow up so fast, I became aware that there were men out there who would find pleasure in the image of a naked girl. It was such a clear indicator of how naive I had been at that time, before Charming had came along and stole my heart. He had really taught me the ways a man could think, and they were far from what I'd been led to believe. Yes he found me beautiful, yes he got great pleasure from touching me but he loved me for far more than my body. I could say the same for him too, he had the strong shoulders and thick neck, and he certainly wasn't challenged in his nether regions either but it came down to far more than his physical features.  
It was glorious to be able to take the weight of my achy muscles. I swore I could almost hear my feet sigh with gratitude and my toes tingle. The weight off my pelvis and the strain off my stomach muscles was also brilliant, the water taking away the gravity I was used to and just letting me lie. I let my eyes flicker shut and took a deep breath of the lavender smell in the water. I was so tired, it was a constant, always so tired because our baby was taking everything from me. I sighed again, awoken from my peaceful thoughts, our baby. Our baby should have been Emma, she was our baby and now I was having another one. I still wasn't sure how she felt about it all, she knew how much more he would need than a normal child, she understood worst case he wouldn't live beyond five years old- barely beyond toddlerhood. Yet she didn't connect.  
I often asked myself what did I expect? She wasn't the little girl we'd envisioned her being when we had another child. We had planned to let nature take its course and let me take to him whenever I did so, Emma should have been so tiny when this happened.  
"Hey," my husband's voice whispered, making me jump out of my skin and thoughts. I turned to see him standing against the frosted glass wall. "Need some help? I'll do your hair." I smiled up at him, he could never do enough- so charming. He sauntered over and knelt by my head, running a hand over my hair.  
"It's still strange to see it so short. At least I never get a mouthful of hair anymore." He shrugged, giving his award winning smile.  
"David?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Thank you, for everything you're doing. You didn't need to do this." He knew what I meant; me, the baby, Whale, this evening- all of it.  
"I love you," was his only reply. He reached for the toothbrush cup, emptied it and filled it with warm water from the tap before poring it over my head, using his hand as a barrier to stop the water running forwards into my eyes. He was already a well trained father, ready for our second child to come into the world in a few months time. He reached for the shampoo and slowly massaged it into my head, rubbing up and down with his fingers.  
"Close your eyes," he instructed softly and I did so.  
He rinsed my hair and conditioned it, leaving me free to relax and feel like I was the baby. After a moment or two he disappeared to check on whatever he was cooking and left me alone with my thoughts.  
"Right," he began, coming back again, "ready to come out?"  
I laughed,  
"I feel like your baby,"  
"You're always going to be my baby," he cooed and took a grip on my arm to help me up. My weight had started to become an issue now and my centre of gravity was very off kilter so moving around had became quite difficult and I was glad of his support.  
After a second of thought he let go of me again, undid the top few buttons of his shirt and pulled it over his head then came back to help again.  
He placed an arm around my back and took my hand with his spare one, helping me haul myself onto my feet in the slippery bath tub. Charming made sure I was steady and not going to slip before he held a finger to me and walked back into the main part of the apartment coming back quickly with a big white towel.  
"It's been on the radiator," he explained as he wrapped it around me. Oh it was nice, a lovely warm towel, soft enough to be comfortable but crunchy enough to absorb the water. He tucked the towel under my arms and slipped the corner in at my breasts. The towel hung just low enough to preserve my dignity, not that it was necessary considering he had most definitely seen it all.  
"Now mrs Charming," he began and then leaned down, scooping me up into his arms.  
"Charming!" I squealed, aware I sounded like a little girl. He grinned at my response, shoving me a little further into his arms.  
"Yes dear?" I just shook my head at him and reached through the tangle of his body and mine to give a lingering kiss to his cheek. I felt his skin grow warmer from my touch, he was heating up for much more than a small kiss or two and for the first time in a good few months I felt as though I wanted to do more than that too.  
My beloved whisked me from the bathroom, still cradled like a baby in his arms, and into the kitchen before making me sit on the breakfast bar slash island in the middle.  
I could see his muscles straining and veins popping up when he tried to lift me up onto the island but there was no point arguing with him over something so small when we had a rare moment of time together.  
"Now," he began, taking his eyes off me only for a second and reaching into the drawer for a spoon which he promptly dunked into a tomatoey based sauce before bringing it over to me muttering a 'taste this' under his breath. I went to take the spoon but he raised a finger to me and held the silver spoon up to my mouth. He really was babying me that night. I opened and let him pour some of the liquid onto my tongue.  
It was creamy, very creamy but rich and tangy at the same time, almost like tomato soup- except there was something more to it than just creamy tomatoes. I nodded my approve at him while I swallowed the mouthful.  
"Which jar did you take that from?" I teased, smiling at his mock hurt before giving me the answer I had really wanted.  
"It's tomato, pepper and mascarpone. Made by my very own hands, I'm going to put it with ravioli- which I bought, but it's not from a tin!" He tried to defend himself, holding up the packet which lay empty on the surface next to me. I just laughed and shook my head, he was certainly trying.  
He looked down at me in confusion and I just shook my head again, answering him with a small peck on the cheek.  
"Can I go get dressed now?" I asked him. He gave me a very suggestive look and shook his head,  
"Why bother, you could just stay like this." I knew it was more of a wish than a real suggestion and he was well aware of that too but none the less he put an arm around my waist and helped me jump down from the island top and saunter off to our bedroom.  
I couldn't help but smile, he was really trying his best and I couldn't even remember the last time we had been alone like this. We were heading for a good night I was sure. I looked across at our rather small double bed and wondered whether it would see some action that night.  
I reached into the drawer nearest my hand and grabbed some form of loose t-shirt (which was no longer loose once on) and a pair of leggings from another drawer. I didn't bother with much else- he'd seen it all before enough times.  
When I walked back through to the larger room I found him moving plates around on the table and popping a few snow drops into a delicate china vase in the centre of the strong table.  
He turned when he heard my feet in an uneven floorboard and his eyes filled with love. The look he wore only for me, a glance that showed his mind was only on one thing and that I was the only important 'one thing' for him. He saw my attire and his eyebrows raised. My husband walked straight up to me, his hands outstretched like those of a toddler until they found my waist. A small kiss was dropped onto my lips along with a smile like no other. Then, arm still around my waist, he led me to the table and pulled out a chair.  
"Your majesty," he joked, holding out his hand in offering. I slinked round him and into the chair he offered, with a devious grin he pushed the chair in a little, laughing when I couldn't get any closer.  
"Will I just put the plate down here?" He chuckled patting my belly and taking a few steps away before I could give him a playful slap.  
"It's not that bad!"  
He didn't reply, and earned another swipe as he headed for the plates.  
He had put two large, decorative plates down on the table and had placed his creation on the smaller white plates, acting as a preschooler playing restaurants. When he placed the plate down it certainly looked pretty good. He had even wrapped up the cutlery in white tissue paper before putting it next to the plate. Next came the wine glass, filled with lemonade and a final sweet kiss to the cheek before he took the seat next to me.  
I could feel his eyes on my skin as he waited for me to take the first bite and give my nod of approval. It was lovely, the sauce and the chicken went very well together as did the Parmesan sprinkling.  
"Mmm, mhmm," I nodded with a mouthful. Charming laughed,  
"Good then?"  
"Yes, now where did you get that recipe?" I demanded. This was too good for a shepherd slash prince to have come up with on his own he had found it somewhere.  
"Well," he began, quickly finishing his mouthful, " I was looking up an important part of operation bumblebee and got sidetracked, I thought you deserved something special. You've put up with a lot recently, a lot more stress than you should have to."  
I shrugged my shoulders, "I guess stress and pregnancy go hand in hand for me- although Emma attacking Whale wasn't something I could have envisioned." My husband nodded in approval.  
We shouldn't have encouraged our daughter to be violent ever- with no change to how young or old she was but her defending me and her baby brother had meant so much. She cared enough about us all to do the defending. She was beginning to love us as more than friends. I could feel myself getting caught in that thought and knowing it would head somewhere much darker I changed the direction of the conversation.  
"What is operation bumblebee?"  
Charming laughed,  
"No way, nuh uh! That is between me and Henry. You'll find out soon enough." He triumphantly pushed another forkful of food into his mouth, ending the conversation.  
"So, how was your day?" He began again, taking a sip from his lemonade.  
"Ugh, tiring." I replied, not really wanting to talk about it, it was such a boring waste of a conversation.  
"Henry's been great though, he sticks to your instructions to the letter."  
Charming smiled, and continued to chatter about our grandson. He adored the young boy's company, he was just like Emma would've been. Every now and then I would catch myself thinking how much Charming would love to have a son and then remember he was going to have one, Leo would just be different from how I had expected. Sometimes I thought that Henry was more like a son to him than our future child would be, for the simple reason Leo may never be able to do all the boy things that Henry and Grandpa were already enjoying.  
"Now, my Queen," Charming began, creating a clatter as he laid down his cutlery,  
"I've got something for you."  
He stood up from the table and headed for the coat rack at the door, rummaging through his jacket pocket before pulling out a white square box which he brought back to the table, placing it in front of me and then got down on his knees at my side. Doing so made him a little shorter than I was sitting on my chair. His hands reached out from his sides and up towards me, pulling me a bit closer to his body-as close as I could be before my growing bump was pressing into him.  
"I, I just want you to know that I love you, through ups and downs, ins and outs. The good and the bad, so I had this made."  
He handed the box to me and let me undo the light blue ribbon tying it shut. Inside was a necklace on a silver chain. The centrepiece was a hollow silver heart shape with a smaller one inside it and a tiny third inside that. The heart shaped outlines were made from silver but the hearts were encrusted with tiny green stones, peridot's; like my wedding ring.  
Charming's finger peeked around the top of the box and he gently touched each heart,  
"Wife, mother, grandmother." He whispered as he moved his finger down the hearts. He looked up at me, noticing I hadn't said anything, hoping he hadn't done anything wrong. A single tear skid down my cheek, forming an orb and dropping onto my leggings.  
He smiled at that and slowly laid his box on the table before carefully capturing me in his arms, holding me close to him and letting me sob for a while. My head was lowered to his shoulder and his rough cheek stroked my face, making sure I knew he was there. He was always there, even after all I'd put him through. My fingers reached up to find the scar on his jaw. The scar I'd given to the gorgeous man I met in the forest, to the one who literally caught me and kept me forever.  
"You still love me, after all I've done to you," I whispered, my voice turning the statement into a question as it left my mouth. He softly pushed away from my cheek and cupped them both with his hands, closing on me until our noses brushed, his eyes never losing contact or confidence as they looked down into mine and whispered,  
"Always."  
The pair of peach toned lips on front of me quickly came forward and collided with mine, sending a surge of need through me. My heart jumped forward and I let out an involuntary sound, only describable as guttural and instinctive. I felt him smile lightly before tilting his head a little to the left and coaxing my mouth open, sliding them together as one piece of flesh. I felt the muscles in his arms react to the lust which I knew was flushing his veins and causing his heart to thump in his chest. He tore his mouth away, taking a step back and tearing his hands away so sharp it was as if he'd been bitten.  
"No, Mary Margaret. I can't, not after what happened before."  
"Please." I could hear myself almost begging, hear the desperation in my own voice deep with the need to be loved and loved fully.  
Charming looked away, his gaze catching the floor and staying with it. A groan of frustration filtered out of his mouth in an almost musical crescendo with his eyes snapping back to mine. One of his hands found my hip, now nestling very close to the engorged skin of my belly, and softly he massaged it, I had to resist the desire to rock my hips with his hand movement.  
"I want you, I do." He began with real sincerity. "But I won't risk hurting you or the baby."  
"You won-," I began but he kept talking over me, silencing my thought,  
"You can't tell me that night it didn't hurt, you masked it but I knew you were far too tender. We could have lost Emma!" He spoke as if there was something deliberate there, as if what had happened all those years ago when I was expecting our daughter could have been prevented. I had yelped, it had been sore when he entered me and I had bled for three days but that was then and he didn't see it was in the past, that Emma had been my first child and my body had still been learning to cope with these changes. It had coped poorly with the whole pregnancy, leaving me with agonising milk engorgement, strange body temperatures and internal tears.  
This time it was different and this time I wanted him. I wanted to feel loved and happy and completely filled up with the love we could create together. It was a magical experience and one we no longer had much time for, I wanted to enjoy one last night of love making before it was too late.  
"This time I want it, back then I was exhausted and sore and feeling ugly, and I did it for you. I knew you wanted me to feel loved and knowing it was alright for us to get it on that's what you wanted to do, to show me your love in the best way you could. This time I'm ready for this, I've barely had any time to be with you and you have taken on so much I want to make things better." I reached for his chest, laying my hands against the muscles of an honest worker. The pain of decision lay across his face, he wanted it- I could feel that he did- but his past experiences had made this difficult.  
"Please," I whispered and he began to subside. His lips reached for mine and we clashed in the middle, his mouth opening and closing as it demanded to control my own. Tongues began to touch and breathing began to lose it's timing. My heart thumped and my body hummed when his hands found my bum and began to caress softly with just enough pressure.  
"You are wicked," he hissed in my ear, pulling his lips from mine for a break to breathe.  
"And still you love me," he whimpered softly in response and buried his face in my neck.  
It was wonderful when finally we were there, finally naked and touching, finally slipping and sliding together with the continuous river of moans and whimpers. He lay behind me, running has hands all over, bucking his hips lightly so as not to slip in too far. The baby flipped around, loving the endorphins we gave to him through our love.  
And then it was over, muscles tightening and squeezing before releasing with a sigh of total contentment.  
I smiled, feeling totally happy and totally free for the first time in a while. I didn't think he would do it, I thought he would shove away and make the usual excuse. He was too scared but he had done it, he gave in to my pleas and showed there was trust and blind love deep down there someplace. I tried to slide from my side onto my back, to be in a more comfortable position. We had to lie in on our sides with Charming cocooning me in order to make love since I was so big, and starting to get pretty sensitive down there. Lying on my back took a lot of pressure off, and numbed the pain of my very sore boobs a tad but when I turned I was instantly tilted onto my other side instead. My husband looked at me and shook his head firmly, pushing a pillow around behind my back.  
"Lying on your back crushes a major blood vessel, and with your heart beating so fast that could be dangerous."  
"You've been researching," I grinned, tweaking his nose with my pinky.  
He nodded, smiling,  
"Belle found me a book too, It's so surprising the things that are different in this world, the things that science has discovered-,"  
"Like the bleeding with Emma," I interrupted and he quickly let me take the lead, eyes wide with intrigue.  
"The cervix- the bit that controls baby staying inside my womb until he or she is ready. Is full of blood vessels which are close to the surface. During pregnancy those vessels get more blood and so become more sensitive. It's likely you brushed a blood vessel when we made love, causing the bleed." He nodded, the slight stubble on his cheek rubbing against the pillow.  
"Things are so... Different here. I mean inoculations and car seats, anti-natal classes. Back home you stopped leaving the castle not long after you began to show, here they encourage exercise. It's so different, being a parent here isn't like it was." His tone of voice was far from promising, far closer to despair.  
"I kno- ooh!"  
I was cut of by a strong dull pain across my lower stomach. Over my womb, the baby's home. Charming's eyes were instantly filled with fear, he shoved his hand under the blankets and against my belly, meeting my own hand there.  
"Snow," he began, his tone sounding more like a warning to some other source of my pain rather than concern to me. He turned to get up, reaching for the phone but I stopped him, placing a hand on his sweaty arm.  
"Wait," he had obviously felt the intensity of the contraction and added two and two to get five.  
"It's not what you think David," he sat back down on the bed watching me as I explained.  
"I read about it, this kind of adult activity can cause contractions, they are only small ones- a little stronger than I usually get once a month but its nothing to worry about. I'm not in labour."  
I could see the sigh of relief escape from him.  
"Come back to me, please," I hissed reaching out to kiss him sweetly. He nodded into my kiss and came back to my side, lovingly caressing my lips then my arms, down to my bump which he stroked and kneaded ever so slightly, running lines over the stretch marks as I began to close my eyes, giving in to the tiredness caused by the day gone by.  
I must have fallen asleep for a while because the next thing I knew I heard Henry's voice. They were home and just outside our bedroom. I found myself reaching for something, hoping Charming had covered me up before they came home. I was however already covered, and tucked in and wearing a shirt and sweatpants as makeshift pyjamas.  
"Why is she asleep already? It's only seven thirty!" Henry exclaimed. I could feel his eyes burning onto me, seeing through my attempt at acting.  
"Hey, it's hard work growing a baby, you're grandma's had a hard day."

(A/N) sorry this ending is a bit naff but this is a snippet from the larger story 'forever snowing' and I wanted to put it out on it's own. I really hope you enjoy it and please comment. I will be happy to answer any questions you have so please do. Thanks


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